PETALING JAYA: One in three Malaysian consumers say good fraud and scam protection is their top consideration when looking to select a new financial account, according to data analytics firm Fico’s latest global consumer fraud survey.
Fico lead for fraud, security and financial crime in Asia Pacific, CK Leo, said if a third of consumers are filtering financial providers to find those with the strongest fraud protection, that is a market of more than 7 million from 23 million banking customers in Malaysia.
“This is a significant opportunity and really starts to show that good fraud protection can be a bank’s biggest sales asset rather than just an overhead,” he said in a statement today.
The result comes at a point, post-pandemic, where most consumers say they will continue to do all their banking digitally and are becoming increasingly aware of the need for strong protection against online scams.
The survey revealed that 6% (1.3 million) of Malaysian adults know they have been a victim of identity theft and 12% (2.6 million) of Malaysians think it is likely that their identity has been used to open an account fraudulently, demonstrating an increasing awareness of scams around identity theft.
However, some Malaysians say that identity checks that are too difficult or time-consuming have stopped them from opening a range of different accounts from savings account to credit card and personal loan. Further to this, a quarter have said difficult or time-consuming identity checks mean they have reduced their use or stopped using their accounts.
Biometric security was favoured and polled as the most secure, with fingerprints in top place at 52% and face scans at 47%. Despite this, many consumers have established habits and a reluctance to move on from traditional, less secure methods. One third still show a strong preference to use old-fashioned usernames and passwords and receive passcodes via SMS.
“People develop a sense of trust and comfort around a way of doing things, especially if it has protected them from scams so far. As a result, it takes a while for customers to develop confidence in new security methods even if they are better. Banks need to remain flexible but find ways to show new channels are trustworthy, effective and more convenient,” Leo said.
